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Formula E

Victory 'big redemption' for Da Costa disqualification – Wehrlein

Pascal Wehrlein became the first driver to win two races this season on the final day of the Misano E-Prix double-header.

Wehrlein Misano
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To news overview © Formula E

Pascal Wehrlein hailed his surprise victory in the final race of the Misano E-Prix double-header as "big redemption" for Porsche, following Antonio Felix da Costa's disqualification on Saturday.

Da Costa initially won Saturday's race but was disqualified five hours later, after a spring did not conform with the technical regulations.

Porsche boasted great race pace all weekend at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, but it looked like Wehrlein would finish second. However, Oliver Rowland retired on the last lap after running out of energy, caused by his car telling him the race was a lap shorter than it was.

Wehrlein inherited the victory as a result, making him the first driver to win two races this season. It made up for Da Costa's Saturday woes and also his own, as he failed to score a point in the opening race.

"Yeah, definitely big redemption for the team today," said Wehrlein. "We know we have a strong package. The good thing for us is that we've improved quite a lot in qualifying this season.

"But like I said, it doesn't really matter in those kinds of races, because it's so chaotic initially. But yeah, very happy about qualifying. We know we have a strong race car and we've proven that, all of us Porsche drivers that we have a package.

"Very happy about today. Obviously, there's still, say a cry about yesterday, just in general, that we didn't score any points yesterday, but the season is still long.

"Because [you go] quickly from zero to hero or the other way around, so we just need to keep working hard, do our thing, not getting any penalties or disqualifications."

Wehrlein energy doubts

Rowland's rocket ship pace was a huge surprise to Wehrlein and Porsche, to the extent that the German driver pondered whether the Stuttgart-based outfit had done their energy calculations wrong.

Wehrlein had taken the lead mid-race but opted to give it back to Rowland, as he was pressing the championship leader. In the end, Porsche aced their strategy.

"At a certain moment I think Oliver and myself we progressed a little bit more," added Wehrlein. "I took over the lead and initially the plan was supposed to keep the lead, but he was putting a lot of pressure and I was sure if I was trying to defend him, I would just swallow energy.

"So in the end, I didn't attack I let him through and my team kept telling me I'm three-percent up on energy, so I was very surprised about that. And actually, until the last second to last lap, I was not even sure if that was correct or not. Then I guess his energy was dying on the last step."

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